Dating on College Campuses: Multiple Partners Are Rare, But Rape Is Not

The streotypes are everywhere. College is just one big party, right? How does sex amongst the collegiarte population compare with the rest of the nation? The results may surprise you.

Higher levels of education can be statistically
correlated to lower numbers of sexual partners.

In fact, between eleven and twelve percent of the general
population reports that they have had more than fifteen sexual partners while
less than seven percent of college graduates report having that many partners.
These figures seem to be in direct contrast to the idea that most college
students are frequently having sex with multiple partners.

According to recent polling done by the CDC, the
chance of an individual being sexually active by the time they graduate from
college is very high. While only about a third of high school students report
that they have had vaginal intercourse, nearly two-thirds of college age adults
have had sexual intercourse. By the time, these students reach graduation age,
approximately 85% of males and 82% of females will have had vaginal
intercourse. Although the number of college students who have had intercourse
is relatively high, the number of partners is lower than often perceived.

The American College Health Association takes a
yearly National College Health Assessment. Their numbers shed light on every
aspect of college life pertaining to health and wellness, and they focus a
great deal of their effort on collecting and reporting data about the sex lives
of college students.

When asked how many sexual partners they had had
in the last twelve months, nearly a third of college students report that they
have not had sex with anyone. This equates to 30% of males, 28.7% of females,
and 29.1% overall. Almost half of all students (41.9% of males and 46.5% of
females) had one sexual partner over that time period while only about ten
percent of these students had two partners in twelve months. The percentage of
people with three partners over a twelve month period was 6.5% of males and 6%
of females. The percentage of students with four or more sexual partners,
however, was slightly higher with just over 12% of males reporting that many
partners and 8.1% of women reporting that many partners.

When asked about sexual activity over the last
thirty days, only about half of all students reported that they had had
intercourse during that time period. 45.5% of males and 51.7% of females
reported that they had had sex in the last thirty days. Almost a third of all
respondents claimed that they had never engaged in vaginal intercourse. The
total number of males who reported to have never had sex was 31.8% while the
number of females was 29.2%.

The researchers also asked students who had had
at least one sexual partner over the last twelve months about their total
number of sexual partners. In most cases, this number was relatively low. For
males, the mean number of sexual partners was 2.49 while for females the number
was slightly lower at 2.87. The median number for both male and female students
was 1.00.

When asked about their oral sex habits, the
numbers were relatively similar to the number of sexually active students.
26.1% of males and 27.9% of females reported to have never had oral sex. Some
respondents claimed that they had had oral sex in the past but not in the past
thirty days. 29.2% of males and 27.7% of females fell into that category. The
percentage of students who had had oral sex in the last month was 44% for both
males and females.

The number of college students who use
protection to help prevent pregnancy or STDs is considerably low.

According to
the ACHA, just under half (49.2%) of females report that they usually use
condoms while 54.6% of males report that they usually use a protective barrier.
When asked about other types of birth control during intercourse, 53.9% of
males report that they use contraception and 58.9% of women report that they
do.

The most popular type of contraception used was
the birth control pill with 63.5% of males and 60.7% of females reporting that
they rely on that method. Nearly a quarter of the college students who use
contraception claim that they use withdrawal as their preferred form of birth
control. Other types of contraceptives used included shots, implants, patches,
vaginal rings, IUDs, diaphragms, and fertility awareness. Nearly sixteen
percent of those surveyed claimed that they had had to use emergency
contraception at least once during the last year, but only 2% of those surveyed
claimed that they had faced an unplanned pregnancy.

According to the nonprofit organization Crisis
Connection, there is a rape on a college campus every twenty one hours. They
claim that one in four college women have been the victim of rape and that over
90% of these rapes occur under the influence of alcohol. When asked about rape,
60% of college males report that they were likely to rape or use force under
certain circumstances. Just over a third of rapes take place on college
campuses, and most of them occur on the weekends when drinking seems to be more
prevalent.